Blogs

Our blogs provide fresh, impassioned and authoritative commentary and insight about the variety of civil-liberties issues that the ACLU of Michigan takes up each day in our courts, governments and communities.

Get Involved

With the help of dedicated volunteers and community activists, the ACLU of Michigan works to raise awareness about the importance of preserving the individual rights and liberties that are guaranteed to all people in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States.

Get Help

The ACLU of Michigan is one of more than 50 affiliates in the United States. As such, we encourage you to know as much as possible about your civil liberties. Further, if you feel those liberties have been violated, we suggest you submit a complaint. We only accept complaints that occur within the State of Michigan. If your complaint arose in a state other than Michigan, you must contact the ACLU office in that state.

About Us

Since our founding in 1920, the American Civil Liberties Union has led the fight to conserve our most precious liberties. Through the passion of our supporters, we have grown from a roomful of civil liberties activists to an organization of more than 500,000 active members and supporters with 54 state affiliate offices as well as a legislative office in Washington, DC.

Free Speech

Freedom of speech is protected in the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights and is guaranteed to all Americans. As a core founding principle, free speech has a long history in America. Safeguarding this cherished freedom is the ACLU’s ongoing commitment. Since 1920, the ACLU has worked to preserve our freedom of speech.

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Curfew for Minors in Detroit

2015-06-17 00:00:00

Each year since 2012, the Detroit City Council has passed “emergency” ordinances making it a crime for minors to leave their homes without their parents after 6 p.m. at the annual fireworks night in late June.

Although the ordinances had been adopted to prevent problems during the Independence Day celebration on the Detroit River, the curfew applied anywhere within Detroit’s 139 square miles.

ACLU of Michigan Legislative Docket: First Amendment Issues

2014-04-10 00:00:00

The ACLU maintains a presence in Lansing that enables us to pass policies that expand civil liberties or prevent the passage of policies that are hostile to civil liberties. Through traditional lobbying techniques lobbying, advocacy, and advocacy the legislative program seeks to advance and protect our civil liberties.

The ACLU of Michigan’s legislative program works on a breadth of issues. To give you an idea of what we’ve been up to, we have provided a brief summary, our position on the issue and where the bill is currently situation in the legislative process.

Panhandling Banned in Waterford Township

2014-06-26 00:00:00

Despite the courts being clear that it is unconstitutional to prohibit panhandling on a public sidewalk, a number of municipalities continue to enforce local anti-begging ordinances. In October 2013 the ACLU sent letters to 84 municipalities across the state notifying them that, in light of the Sixth Circuit’s ruling, their anti-begging ordinances are unconstitutional and should be repealed.

Overpriced Water in Flint Is Causing Rashes, Hair Loss

2015-07-16 00:00:00

ACLU of Michigan investigative reporter Curt Guyette (pictured), who has been reporting extensively on the mounting water crisis in financially strapped municipalities such as Flint and Highland Park, authored a heartbreaking look at Flint residents' sadly ironic struggle to obtain clean water in a place known as the Great Lakes State. The piece, which appeared on the Nation magazine's website today, is excerpted below.

Free Speech Rights in Privately Managed Public Spaces

2016-01-25 00:00:00

Originally created in the early 1800s, Campus Martius is a public park in downtown Detroit that advertises itself as “Detroit’s Gathering Place.” However, the city outsourced management of this space to a private organization that did not allow citizens to engage in classic First Amendment activity such as silent marches to protest war, handing out leaflets about political events, and collecting signatures on petitions. When the anti-foreclosure group Moratorium Now!

I’m a Juggalo, Not a Gang Member

Political Speech and Youth Curfews on the Detroit RiverWalk

2015-08-25 00:00:00

The public walkway and parkland along the Detroit River in Detroit is managed by a private non-profit called the Detroit RiverFront Conservancy. Until recently, the Conservancy was treating the land as private property. In September 2013 the ACLU of Michigan wrote a letter explaining that because the Conversancy is performing a public function in running a public park, it is bound by the First Amendment. In response, the Conservancy allowed a peace and justice group called Women in Black to march later that month and claimed that would amend its policies.